From the advent of sound to the Late 1940s. The studio system and vertical integration were large parts of the Golden age

What were the big 5 studios?

RKO

Warner Bros

20th Century Fox

Paramount

Loews (MGM)

What brought about the end of the Golden Age?

Independent movie producers won a battle against the monopoly of the large studios, the studios were ordered to give up their theaters, divesture, opening the market to smaller producers. Also the advent of tv.

What is the studio system?

They set out to make money 1st, art 2nd. Contract actors, B movies

Niche Studio Styles

Paramount - comedies

MGM - all star productions

Warner Bros - gritty social realism, gangster, war, westerns

20th century - Musicals, prestige biographies

RKO - dance, Orson Welles,

MPPDA

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America-

Self censorship - used the Production Code (1930)

PCA

Production Code Administration - agency to enforce the production code, could impose fines if code was not met.